Hamilton Mayor Meara wants to replace retired cops

HAMILTON — Mayor Kevin Meara, in likely the second-to-last day of his brief tenure, announced a pair of new police programs and steps to hire new police officers in Hamiton.

At his third press conference of the week, Meara — along with Acting Business Administrator John Barrett and Police Chief James Collins — said he started a process to replace retired police officers, develop procedures for police to address substance abuse issues and a police chaplain program.

“Public safety seems to be more and more an issue that residents come to us to speak to us about,” Meara said. “We want to get some boots on the ground, so to speak.”

But almost all the initiatives he announced Thursday, along with many of his actions of the past week, will not come to fruition soon and could be reversed by the new mayor, who will likely take over this afternoon. Meara, despite the criticism of members of council, said he wants to move forward on these projects because the township needs them.

“The ship is starting to turn in a positive direction that is not only desired by the residents, but demanded,” he said.

Council will decide today between Councilwoman Kelly Yaede, Councilman Ed Gore, and Dave Maher, a former freeholder candidate and Nottingham fire commissioner, to serve as mayor until a special election next November

The selection comes today, rather than several weeks from now, partially because of a feud between members of council and Meara. As council president, Meara scheduled the selection meeting Dec. 20, but a petition started by Councilman Dave Kenny moved it to Friday.

State law made Meara the temporary mayor for as much as 30 days after Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo’s resignation last week. The Hamilton Republican Committee approved the three nominees to replace Bencivengo last night.

Bencivengo was convicted of taking $12,400 in bribes from the government’s cooperating witness, Marliese Ljuba, in exchange for his influence with the Hamilton Board of Education, so that she could keep her lucrative health insurance brokerage for her employer, Allen Associates.

Meara said he initiated a process this week to replace the four police officers who retired in August and September. That requires him to request a pair of lists, one for people who have passed a civil service exam and one of police officers laid off from other jobs.

Currently, the police force is at 166 out of 170 budgeted officers. Collins said that as many as 15 officers could retire in the next year, meaning they may need to hire as many as 19 officers.

“It could get to a level that it would take a long, long time to get back,” Meara said.

In addition, he said after conversations with Collins and others, Meara said he wanted to start conversations about expanding the police department by as many as 10 officers. Barrett said an expansion like that could cost the township as much as $750,000.

He said he also wanted the police to establish a standard operating procedure for when they encounter people with substance or alcohol abuse problems. Collins said the department already has a standardized procedure when handling domestic abuse changes.

Meara said it may involve counseling referrals or other aspects, and they will have an “adopt and adapt” approach from departments’ programs. He said an effective referral program can help the township, by lowering rates of other crimes.

“For every dollar put into this $11 are saved in terms of substance abuse,” he said.

Meara said he wants the chaplain program, which could rotate between different denominations, to help address the issues of suicide and depression in the police force.